£20,000 trips for ex-MyTravel boss

ERIC Sanderson, the retiring chairman of troubled tour operator MyTravel, is looking forward to £20,000 worth of free holidays - on top of his estimated £240,000 payoff.

He announced last week that he was quitting after 17 years as a non-executive on MyTravel's board. And he is in line for the equivalent of 12 months' salary.

Most part-time directors of quoted companies are not given a service contract and are therefore not entitled to a payoff. But the most extraordinary element of Sanderson's package is what MyTravel - formerly known as Airtours - calls an annual 'product review allowance'.

The perk means that Sanderson, 52, will be able to try out the group's holidays - purely in the interests of research, of course. Joining him at the poolside will be fellow director Christer Sandahl, who also retired last week with a £ 23,100 annual holiday allowance.

Seven MyTravel directors can make use of this perk.

MyTravel said: 'Details have not been sorted out yet, but I can confirm that Eric Sanderson will be given a payoff, which will also take account of his product review allowance.'

Sanderson took over from founder David Crossland as chairman a year ago following a series of profit warnings and accounting irregularities that brought MyTravel to the brink of collapse. Nine directors have quit in the past 16 months.

MyTravel recently posted a record loss of £911 million and the share price has collapsed. But huge payoffs to directors, including £1.2 million to former chief executive Tim Byrne, saw the bill for boardroom pay double last year to £8.6 million.

Sanderson will leave after MyTravel's annual meeting next month, when he will be replaced by Michael Beckett, chairman of casino operator London Clubs International.